Provisional assessment refund claims become maintainable only after finalization; limitation starts then, not earlier.

Refund arising from provisional assessment was treated as maintainable only after the excise authorities finalized the assessment. The provisional assessment procedure under the erstwhile Central Excise Rules, 1944 and the Central Excise Rules, 2002 was regarded as materially similar, and no fixed duration was read into the permission for provisional assessment. Because the assessment had not been finalized and the final price had not been accepted, the refund claim was premature. Rejection of the claim as time-barred or on the ground that provisional assessment was not duly permitted was unsustainable, and the matter was remanded for finalization and consequential orders.

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Issues: Whether the assessee's refund claim arising from provisional assessment was premature in the absence of finalization by the Central Excise authorities and whether the claim could be rejected as time-barred under the limitation provision.

Analysis: The provisional assessment procedure under Rule 9B of the erstwhile Central Excise Rules, 1944 and Rule 7 of the Central Excise Rules, 2002 was treated as materially similar, with no stipulation that provisional assessment could operate only for a fixed period. The earlier permission granted for provisional assessment was held to continue for the disputed period, and the assessee's request for continuation under the later rules had not been disposed of by the competent authority. As the final price had not been accepted and the assessment had not been finalized by the excise authorities, the refund claim was considered premature. In that situation, rejection of the claim either on the ground that provisional assessment was not duly permitted or on limitation was held unsustainable.

Conclusion: The refund claim could not be rejected as time-barred at that stage, because refund became maintainable only after finalization of the provisional assessment; the matter was remanded for finalization of assessment and consequential orders.

Ratio Decidendi: Where provisional assessment has not yet been finalized by the competent excise authority, a refund claim arising from the differential duty paid on the provisional price is premature and limitation for such refund does not begin to run until final assessment.

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